The Best El Nido Tour: A, B, C or D? The Ultimate Island Hopping Guide

There’s one age-old dilemma in Palawan’s most popular island-hopping destination: which is the best El Nido tour, A, B, C or D?

There are four set island-hopping tours in El Nido, each visiting a different set of attractions.

Vast, turquoise lagoons, secret beaches and dramatic limestone islands are among the highlights, but how do you decide which tour to take in El Nido?

In this post, I’ll share my first-hand experience on the El Nido A, B, C and D tours, must-sees, and the pros and cons of each route.

I’ve been to El Nido twice now, so I understand how overwhelming all the options can be. If you’re still feeling out Palawan, I suggest that you start with my full guide to island hopping in Palawan instead.

Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. If you decide to click through and make a qualifying purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you – thanks for your support.

QUICK INFORMATION

Where is El Nido?

El Nido is located at the northern end of Palawan Island in the Philippines.

The Palawan archipelago has a total of around 1,780 islands and islets, and El Nido alone has 45 of them.

The most important thing to note here is that the El Nido island hopping tours depart from El Nido town proper, which you can locate on the map below.

El Nido is also the name of the larger municipality. This causes many people to wrongly base themselves at Lio or Nacpan beach, which are lovely but very far from the port.

El Nido town is a 15-minute drive south of El Nido Airport (ENI) and Lio Beach.

The town has a small beach, where the island-hopping boats dock. Towering over the back of the town are the Taraw Cliffs, a dramatic mountain with razor-sharp rocks.

Is El Nido Worth Visiting?

There’s a reason why El Nido has become the most popular island-hopping destination in Palawan.

Just flick through the pictures of islands with turqouise lagoons, white beaches, sand bars and limestone-karst rock formations, and you’ll quickly understand.

It’s not just island hopping that awaits in El Nido. You can reach the top of the Taraw Cliffs by climbing the Taraw Via Ferrata and visit local beaches by land, including Las Cabañas Beach, Nacpan Beach and Lio Beach.

There’s one main downside to visiting El Nido. The price of beauty is busy crowds.

Between December and May, many tourists descend on the town, which can make the tours and accommodation busy.

When I first visited in 2018, it was small and rather untouched, but now the port town is incredibly lively.

Unfortunately, the corals have been damaged by tourist activities, which is why I highly recommend saving some time for an island-hopping expedition to Coron with Big Dream Boatman.

How Many Days is Enough For El Nido?

The best amount of time to spend in El Nido is three to five days. However, you can easily stay for up to a week.

There are four set island hopping tours in El Nido (A, B, C and D), each taking one full day (8am to 4pm).

If you’re intent on completing all four tours, you need to put aside at least four days.

However, most people will only spend two to three days island hopping (A and C are the most popular).

If you want to climb the Taraw Cliffs, put aside another full day because the opening times (8am to 4pm) clash with the island tours.

How to Get to El Nido

If you’re visiting El Nido, you’re probably either:

A) Beginning your Palawan itinerary in either El Nido or Puerto Princesa and working your way north to Coron.

B) Visiting El Nido after Coron or as a standalone.

1. Arriving in El Nido from Manila or Cebu

If you are starting your trip in El Nido, there are direct flights to El Nido Airport (ENI) from Manila or Cebu.

The airport is very small and located a 15-minute drive north of El Nido town.

Flights to Puerto Princesa are cheaper, so many people decide to fly from Manila or Cebu to Puerto Princesa International Airport (PPS) instead.

After stopping to take a tour of the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, you can then take a five-hour air-conditioned van to El Nido.

Puerto Princesa River

2. Arriving in El Nido from Coron

Getting from Coron to El Nido is a little more complicated. As I explain in my detailed guide to getting from Coron to El Nido, you have three options.

The cheapest is to take a 3.5-hour ferry. You can also take a direct flight, but this winds up being more expensive and almost as time-consuming.

The best and most adventurous alternative is to take a multi-day island hopping expedition through Linapacan.

This skips the tiresome ferry and injects some adventure into your trip – more on that in the next section…

What is the Cost of Island Hopping in El Nido?

• Group tours in El Nido cost approximately 1,550 PHP (£20) per person.
• Private tours cost 7,730+ PHP (£100+).

Additional costs apply for hiring equipment and paying mandatory entry fees.

If you are taking a tour that visits Big Lagoon or Small Lagoon, you must hire a kayak (this should cost around 250 PHP / £3.50).

Most tours include a buffet lunch, but it’s worth checking the fine print.

If you decide to take a multi-day expedition to Coron, these cost $650+ (USD).

Entry Fees for the El Nido Island Hopping Tours

To take any of the best El Nido tours, you must pay an eco-tourism development fee of 200 PHP (£2.80).

Additional entry fees (usually 200 PHP per attraction) are required for places like Big Lagoon and Small Lagoon.

These fees are usually paid to your tour guide in cash.

Types Of Island-Hopping Tours in El Nido

1. Multi-day expeditions

If there is one thing you don’t want to miss in Palawan, it’s the multi-day island-hopping expeditions between El Nido and Coron.

Starting at $650, these expeditions take place on a traditional bangka boat and explore the area of Linapacan.

Due to its remote location, Linapacan has healthier coral reefs and more diverse marine life. The islands are also spectacular; most of them are uninhabited, aside from the camps where you’ll sleep, which are home to small island villages.

Island hopping in Linapacan!

After spending your days snorkelling and swimming to uninhabited islands, you get to experience sleeping in a bamboo hut on the beach.

The expeditions are arranged by two main tour operators:

1. Big Dream Boatman: The best small group tours and the best value for money.
2. Tao Philippines: The original tour operator, but more expensive.

I’ve done the route twice now, and hope to return for a third time.

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2. El Nido private island hopping tour

If taking a group tour with 10-20 strangers doesn’t sound like your ideal scenario, the best El Nido tour for you will be by private boat.

The private tours visit routes A, B, C or D by traditional bangka boat.

However, often, the guides are much more flexible with the route and timings, as they don’t need to cater to the interests of a group.

A private tour is ideal if you want to go island hopping as a family or as a group of friends.

Those who want a more luxurious experience can also book a private yacht tour.

3. Group island hopping tour

The best El Nido tour for those on a budget is a group tour. Again, they cover the set A, B, C and D routes.

Group tours accommodate anywhere from 10 to 20 people, depending upon the size of the boat.

This may be ideal for solo travellers and small groups looking to make friends, but it also means that you don’t get any privacy.

How to Pick the Best El Nido Tour: A, B, C or D?

In an ideal world, you’ll have enough time to go on all four El Nido island hopping tours. However, if you don’t, you will want to make the most of the time you have.

Tour A and Tour C are the most popular tours in El Nido. Route A visits Big Lagoon and Secret Lagoon, where you can go kayaking surrounded by limestone cliffs.

Tour B is best for beaches. It features the white-sand sandbar at Snake Island as well as a cave where Japanese soldiers hid themselves during World War II.

Tour C is all about El Nido’s ‘secret beaches’, Hidden Beach and Secret Beach. It also visits one of my favourite islands, Helicopter Island.

Tour D is quickly rising in popularity, as it explores two less-busy lagoons (at Small Lagoon and Cadlao Island).

Let me walk you through each tour one by one…

⛰️ Looking for things to do in town, too? Open a new tab with my ultimate Coron itinerary, which includes the via ferrata, a zipwire and stunning land beaches.

1. Tour A

Best for: Visiting El Nido’s famous lagoons

Visits: Big Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Seven Commandos Beach and Shimizu Island

Tour A is a popular pick, mainly because it’s the only tour that visits Big Lagoon, one of El Nido’s must-sees.

The large, turquoise lagoon is surrounded by steep limestone-karst cliffs and accessible only by kayak.

While you’re paddling around, you can explore small caves, decamp on the patches of sand and spot sea urchins in the turquoise water.

Small Lagoon is also a highlight. After crawling through a narrow gap in the rocks, you emerge in a small amphitheatre-like lagoon surrounded by limestone.

You don’t need a kayak to visit Secret Lagoon, but you do need swimming skills, as it’s fairly deep.

Tour A also includes some beach time. It’s rumoured that seven World War II soldiers were stranded on Seven Commandos Beach, hence the name.

It’s a beautiful place to unwind, lined with palm trees. I enjoyed sitting on the swings at the back of the beach and snorkelling over the corals (on the right-hand side, facing the ocean).

Lunch was at Shimizu Island, an island with white-sand beaches and tall limestone rocks.

Check the availability for Tour A.

2. Tour B

Best for: Visiting less-crowded beaches and a powdery sand bar

Visits: Popolkan Island, Snake Island, Pinagbuyutan Island, Cudugnon Cave and Cathedral Cave

Tour B is a wise choice for anyone who wants to avoid the big crowds. It’s island hopping as it should be: wild, uncrowded and freeing.

The beaches also have some fascinating rock and sand formations, especially Snake Island with its shifting sandbars.

Tour B starts by visiting Popolkan Island. Small and sweet, it has great snorkelling and diving.

Snake Island is next. It has a long sand bar at low tide, which stretches for three kilometres between two islands.

Mangroves and thick palm trees (with the occasional monkey) rest alongside the beach.

The route also visits Cudugnon Cave, which is tucked underneath a hill on Lagen Island, miles away from the civilisation of El Nido town.

The cave is a Neolithic burial site for Palawan residents and people who settled in Palawan from Borneo.

Human bones have been found in the cave dating to 960 AD. It’s also thought that Japanese soldiers hid in the cave during World War II.

It is filled with limestone-karst formations, stalactites, bats, and swallows.

Access to the cave is during low tide only, through a small opening. 

Cathedral Cave is similar, but you can’t go inside the cave because it has venomous snakes. You’ll get to admire the cathedral-like entrance from a distance instead.

Finally, Tour B ends at Pinagbuyutan Island, one of the closest islands to El Nido town proper (around half an hour’s sail from the town).

It’s a wild, deserted island, making it the ideal place to relax and snorkel.

Check the availability for Tour B.

3. Tour C

Best for: Visiting El Nido’s ‘secret’ beaches

Visits: Hidden Beach, Secret Beach, Helicopter Island and Matinloc Shrine

Tour C was my favourite tour overall. Firstly, it was less crowded than Tour A. Secondly, it also plays on the idea of ‘secret beaches’, where the sand is hidden by rocks and/or caves.

The tour is pretty popular, so I can’t say that the beaches are exactly a ‘secret’ anymore. Still, you’d have no idea they were there if it wasn’t for the tour guides pointing them out

On the approach to Hidden Beach, you’ll see nothing but a wall of limestone. However, as you get closer, a sliver of sand appears.

Hidden Beach

The boats park a short distance away from the rocks, so you will need to swim/clamber through shallow water. Reef shoes are essential.

At the beach, I spotted a tiny family of reef sharks, who peacefully took a length or two before exiting.

The second stop is Secret Beach. Unlike Hidden Beach, it is fully concealed by limestone rocks. You need to jump into deep water and swim through a narrow limestone crevice.

Wear your reef shoes, because once you’ve squeezed through, you still have to climb across rocks to reach the sand.

Before we visited the two main beaches, we spent the morning at Helicopter Island, one of the prettiest places I visited on my El Nido island hopping tours.

First thing in the morning, the beach was pretty busy. However, it is still large enough that you can walk until there are no people around.

There are some corals just off the beach if you want to go snorkelling.

The next location, Tapiutan Beach, is a popular lunch stop with yet more white sand and corals.

The final stop is Matinloc Shrine, a large, white shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It has been there since 1982, when it was supposedly set up by adventurers who buried their treasure from World War II.

Check the availability for Tour C.

4. Tour D

Best for: Snorkelling and visiting a less-busy lagoon

Visits: Small Lagoon, Caldao Island, Pasandigan Beach, Nat Nat Beach and Paradise Beach

Tour D is one of the least crowded routes in El Nido. If you want to experience a smaller, quieter lagoon than Big Lagoon, it’s a good alternative to Tour A.

At Big Lagoon, I felt like I didn’t see everything. However, at Small Lagoon, I felt like I could fully explore the place within half an hour.

Because the lagoon is so small, you can take the time to look for marine life from your kayak.

There are several cliff-jumping spots and deep water areas suitable for swimming.

Cadlao Island has another small lagoon. It’s one of the largest islands that you’ll encounter while island hopping in El Nido, and snorkelling at the lagoon is dream-like.

Tour D also incorporates a few beaches, making it great for relaxation. These include Pasandigan Beach, Nat Nat Beach and Paradise Beach, which all have shallow water and fab marine life.

Pasandigan Beach is known for its turtles.

Check the availability for Tour D.

How to Prepare for Your El Nido Tour

1. Prepare your packing list

The most important thing you need is a dry bag to protect your belongings from water spray on the boat. These can be purchased from market stalls in El Nido town.

The second most important thing is reef shoes. On most of the tours, you must walk over rocks. The shoes also provide some protection from sea urchins if you’re walking on sand with shallow water.

Again, reef shoes can be purchased in El Nido town.

My guide to what to wear Palawan is packed with more tips on what to take/wear island hopping, but here’s a quick overview:

• Swimming costume – there are no changing facilities on the boats, so wear it under your clothes.
• A reusable water bottle – single-use plastics are banned! Aim to bring 1-3 litres.
• Beach towel
• Change of clothes
• Sun protection
• Snorkel gear (if you have your own)
• Cash – for tourist fees, extras and snacks.

2. Leave enough time for your journey to the port

The meeting place for most of the best El Nido tours is at El Nido beach directly next to the town.

Depending on where you stay, it may take 10-20 minutes to walk to the beach from your hotel.

If you’re staying outside of the main town, leave enough time for a taxi or tricycle to the beach.

3. Check the weather

Even the best El Nido tour will be cancelled if the weather doesn’t play nice. The best time to visit El Nido is from December to May, but you still may face rainy conditions and – if you’re very unlucky – typhoons.

Check your email to make sure your tour hasn’t been cancelled if the weather conditions are poor. The ideal weather for island hopping is sunny with minimal winds.

In windy conditions, it’s important to pack a warm jacket and anti-motion sickness pills.

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I hope you found my guide to the best El Nido tours useful. Leave a comment below to let me know your trip plans – I’d love to hear from you!

Suggested reading:

• Island hopping in Palawan – start here!
• Coron travel itinerary
• The best Coron island hopping tours: A, B, C or D?
• How to get from El Nido to Coron
• Puerto Princesa itinerary

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